Awesome Foundation - Projects

San Francisco, CA – The Balloon-Powered Dance Party!

2012-04-17T00:00:00Z

Our goal is to create the world's first ever immersive, balloon-powered dance party!We will design and build units made up of a micro radio receiver, a micro speaker, and a colored LED light, and insert them into balloons. The receivers will be tuned to the same frequency and will simultaneously broadcast tunes while the LEDs flash in time with the music. The captured air inside the balloons will create a resonating chamber, producing deep, rich sound despite the small speakers inside. We will also include several thousand unlit helium and air-filled balloons, and several hundred balloons with only LED lights inside. The final result will immerse visitors in a sea of floating, pulsating orbs of music and light. A dance party emanating from all around you! The installation will last over an entire weekend in the massive 22,000 cubic ft main gallery of the "Million Fishes" artists collective in the Mission. It will be fully advertised and open to the public for all to enjoy. We have, strangely enough, extensive balloon related experience. Our first adventure involved turning a squash court into a balloon ocean, using 6,000 blue balloons, and an array of colorful undersea balloon creatures. The response to this project was overwhelming - several hundred normally overstressed college students spent a whole day cavorting among the balloons. We marvel balloons' ability to create childlike wonder and expect this project to achieve even more of that same effect. http://goo.gl/yQ2EM Most recently, we launched a fully decorated Christmas tree into the stratosphere using several hundred helium balloons. http://goo.gl/9GCmq Will is the balloon specialist; Isaac, with a degree in Astrophysics, is our electronics guru; George is the party planner, DJ extraordinaire, and resident of the "Million Fishes" artists collective. Together with support from the Awesome Foundation, we are ready and eager to make this awesome dance party dream come true!

Oahu, HI – Dream Boxes for Homeless Kids

2012-04-16T00:00:00Z

My name is Grace Furuta and I am 6 years old. I made my own plan after I heard about you on the radio (KHPR). "My idea is to help the community by doing an art project. We want to pass around DREAM BOXES that have art supplies like glue, markers, crayons, scissors, cray-pas, colored pencils and paper to homeless kids. The purpose of my DREAM BOX idea is to make homeless kids happy so when they are lonely they can go to their DREAM BOX and find everything they want to do. My mom will drive me to homeless shelters on the weekend and if possible, I will bring an art teacher with me to share the importance of art." Thank you for your time. (Typed by Grace's mom, Lisa) Homeless shelters: Kaka’ako Next Step Shelter Pai’olu Kaiaulu Shelter Onelau’ena and Onemalu Shelters (Open to other suggestions)

Seattle, WA – The Pollinator Pathway

2012-04-10T00:00:00Z

Hi! I'm an artist and designer, and several years ago I started a project called the Pollinator Pathway. Its a mile long, twelve foot wide corridor of pollinator friendly gardens being built in planting strips along Seattle’s Columbia Street, between Seattle University’s campus (at 12th), and Nora’s woods, a pocket park on 29th. Spanning one third of the city’s width, the project draws a line of plant life between these two larger public green spaces, connecting otherwise disconnected urban land patches. A third of our food supply depends on pollination, and we have come to rely heavily on one species, the honeybee, to pollinate our major crops. Dependence on one species makes ecological systems fragile, as has become clear with recent massive honeybee declines due to Colony Collapse Disorder. Honeybees, a Eurasian species brought to America by European settlers, are one of the most well-known pollinators, but they are not the only ones. There are hundreds of thousands of native pollinators in the world, pollinating not only many of our crops, but 90% of the planet’s plants. The Pollinator Pathway’s goal is to support native pollinators by learning about and choosing plants that they utilize, with the understanding that healthy native pollinators and connected landscapes support the stability and health of our food supply and ecological systems. In a broad sense, the project looks at the larger systems that make up our world, investigates how they work, and creates a real-life platform to share information about these systems and their importance. While pollinators are the namesake of the pathway, it is plant life that binds this project together – the history of plants and historical biodiversity of the region, the relationships of plants and pollinators in farming, and the rise of cities and shifting land use patterns that have accompanied the spread of humanity on the planet. Part renegade park and part educational platform, the Pollinator Pathway merges science, art, systems-thinking, urban planning and landscape design and has worked with hundreds of volunteers and students in building the gardens so far. We've successfully built 12 gardens, and have raised funds for another 12 to be built this year. And, I'm applying to the Awesome Foundation for help building one new garden on the mile!

Sydney – Australian National Qualifier for breakdancing

2012-04-10T00:00:00Z

Krosswerdz (community programs) is a non profit group that uses hip hop to make a positive difference in the lives of young people. We provide personal development programs in breakdancing, aerosol art, emceeing and DJing. We run a free breakdancing program for 50 young people in Liverpool each week, on a voluntary basis. R16 is the pre-eminent world event for breakdancing. It is prestigous, highly respected and represents the pinnacle of performance for bboys and bgirls around the globe. This year 20 countries will participate, and our organisation has been invited to host the first ever Australian comp. We expect 800 people to attend this free event, and we need your support to make this dream a reality. More than 200 people have registered for the event, we have a venue and leading Australian judges, we have raised money for this event. The winning crew of 8 young people will fly to Taiwan to represent Australia. The event is not only a positive community event, but a once in a life time opportunity for the crew who win the battle to represent their country on the world stage.

Ann Arbor, MI – Dome Sweet Dome

2012-04-01T00:00:00Z

I work in a lab with neural implants, and I love combining cool technology with enriching Ann Arbor's culture. I co-founded the local hackerspace (All Hands Active) and started a Burning Man inter-city theme camp (a little more on that, later). The latest project is to build a 16ft-radius GEODESIC DOME out of electrical conduit, 1.5inches thick. Why? Because these structures (designed by Buckminister Fuller) are architecturally unique in this town, remarkably sturdy, an awesome piece of DIY work, multi-purpose, transportable, and would be a great asset to any event in Ann Arbor that had the space to host it. More importantly, though, is HOW will it be used? I want to build and install this dome at: A2 Maker Faire, Detroit Maker Faire, Figment, and Lakes of Fire - all of which are local events that support creativity, community, celebrating the arts, and DIY building. At Lakes of Fire, it will be a space for Detroit DJs, decorative lighting, and dancing. At Figment or the Maker Faires, it can be a jungle gym -- fun to climb, and halfway up, we would rope cargo netting to protect from falls. What's more exciting is how people will want to use the dome - I want this to be readily available for others in or around Ann Arbor. My own plan for the next stage of this dome (if funded and built) is to turn it into a LARGE INSTRUMENT -- string bungee cords across the dome that will trigger sound (electronically and/or mechanically) when tugged and clambered upon. Other people may want to use it for parties, fundraisers, gatherings, performances, hanging hammocks or swings, cover it or leave it open. How will this thing get built? If sufficiently funded, we have a great crew who has A LOT of experience building big projects, including a 30' x 12' monkey hut (imagine a long archway) and a 10,000 sq ft maze. We initially banded together as a camp for Burning Man (a 1-week temporary city in the Nevada desert). However, this year we aren't going to that event and are instead focusing on ways to foster creativity in our home region. A very gracious man from A2MechShop has allowed us to use his band saw, hydraulic press, and drill press to cut, flatten, and drill the ends of our conduit. The flattened ends will be bolted together to construct the dome. We chose specs that make the dome stronger, easier to climb, and results in minimal waste when cutting the 10ft conduit lengths. We have space outside to do test builds and a bus to transport the disassembled dome.

Boulder, CO (Inactive) – The MCAT Cooperative

2012-04-01T00:00:00Z

Now that I'm here at the Univ. of CO School of Medicine I've been trying to help other pre-meds become doctors by offering low-cost test prep for the Medical College Admissions Test (MCAT), coaching, mentoring, and application assistance. The cost of the course is less than half of all other prep courses and it offers a lot more than all of them. What makes my program even more awesome is that the course is taught by actual medical students who do their best to offer friendship and support to the students. I'm able to keep it low-cost by partnering with other student organizations around campus with similar interest - hence the "Cooperative" in the name. I just started the program this spring at CU Denver and I have 8 students participating right now. I have received strong interest from the CU Boulder pre-meds that I start a course here also. I have high hopes that the program could grow and begin funding scholarships for students who are underrepresented in healthcare (low-income, first gen, or minorities). My highest aspiration is to one day make this a national program so that we can take eliminate the financial and cultural barriers that have been created by all the major corporate test prep companies who ask for over $2000 per student and don't provide the much needed extra support for students underrepresented in health care.

Detroit, MI (Inactive) – The Detroit Journal

2012-03-30T00:00:00Z

The focus of our project is creating and publishing high-quality short films that tell true stories about real people in Detroit. We created a web site to show the videos on a monthly basis but we also provide Detroit-centric news and stories in between the film premiers. We premier the videos on our website and offline with a showing at some sort of Detroit space. The stories range anywhere from our latest episode about Lightshow Bob (a 15 year veteran lighting guy for bands in the Detroit area) to the night guard at the DIA. We take suggestions from viewers about people with interesting stories and we either devote a 10-15 minute long short film feature to that story or include their story in some way on our website.

Toronto – Guerilla Gardening: perennial plants

2012-03-29T00:00:00Z

We are a grassroots organization that reclaims public space. We use plants, flowers and seeds to beautify our city and encourage community participation. For the last decade we've been identifying neglected corners across Toronto and staging events to replace blight with beauty, gray with green. Our events typically include a seed bombing run in the spring (scattering native wildflower seeds into difficult to reach areas), followed by 2-5 plot-specific events. Our organization depends on donated plants and volunteer labor. We think it would be Awesome to spend $1000 to step up our efforts. With the help of the Awesome Foundation, our reach would also increase - more attention = more volunteers and more donations. I'm submitting this for Terry Aldebert, who is the key organizer. You can see a good interview with her here: http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20080717/guerilla_gardening_AM_080717/

Boston, MA (Inactive) – Lorem Ipsum Store Front

2012-03-28T00:00:00Z

Thanks for taking the time to consider our proposal. We propose building an immersive installation in the Lorem Ipsum Store Front. As a Boston-based artist collective we’ve worked to invigorate spaces throughout the east coast and want to offer a permanent store front installation in our own community. Lorem Ipsum is a community oriented book store in Inman Square (Cambridge, MA) that hosts a variety of events from evening in-store concerts, free classes and workshops, gallery exhibits, and they also offer the largest Zine Libary in the New England. Lorem Ipsum asked us for help with their store front display and we would love to donate our installation prowess. As a collective we see the importance and power of collaboration to make amazing artistic endeavors come together. A one-of-a-kind store front installation would help bring attention to such a positive community center in Inman Square.

Grand Rapids, MI (Inactive) – Classroom Freedom

2012-03-25T00:00:00Z

I am a high school Physical Science teacher at Calvin Christian High School. I have been teaching for 9 years and I love it. I am especially good at using technoloty in the classroom. I have a masters in Educational Technology form CMU. My problem is that in using technology I am often tied to my computer at the front of the classroom. I want to be able to wander throughout my classroom while I teach and give individual help, instead of being anchored to my computer. For this reason I am applying for this grant to purchase a tablet computer. By using a 7 inch tablet and the app called Pocket Cloud I will have the ability to control my desktop and projector remotely. This will allow me to be able to teach from anywhere in the classroom. I will be able to give individual help to students who need it while still being able to direct what is being presented and what is going on in the classroom. In addition to this I will be able to use the tablet while I am out of my classroom doing labs. We often do labs that require more space outdoors or in our gym.

Ottawa – Hidden Harvest Ottawa

2012-03-23T00:00:00Z

This month’s Awesome grant winner is Hidden Harvest Ottawa! Within the city limits of Ottawa there are 42,000+ fruit and nut trees which go unharvested every year. This adds up to thousands of pounds of food going to waste. Meanwhile community organizations and agencies like the Food Bank struggle to feed their communities with fresh produce and the owners of the trees throw away the excess. Hidden Harvest Ottawa seeks to bridge the gap: to pick fruit, share it, and then plant more trees. HHO will connect landowners with trees, tree owners with volunteer harvesters, and harvesters with community agencies. The harvest itself will follow a sustainable ¼ model: ¼ will go to the tree owner, ¼ to the volunteer harvesters, ¼ to the nearest community agency in need, and ¼ will return to HHO to generate funds to support the organization. Jason and Katrina, the founders of HHO, are friends that met through wild food salvaging adventures around Ottawa. Jason is on the Board of Directors for Just Food and a member of the Ottawa Forest and Greenspace Advisory Committee. Katrina was Outreach and Communications Director at The Otesha Project (a local sustainability non-profit) from 2009-2011. With the awesome grant they plan to invest in two bike trailers that will carry the weight they need to tote the fruit from the harvest to local food agencies. If you are interested in getting involved as a volunteer, landowner, or community group, please let us know or check out their Facebook page!

Calgary, AB (Inactive) – SurroGART (Remote Robo-Art)

2012-03-22T00:00:00Z

The nerds & artists of Calgary are collaborating to create a remotely controllable art robot. Our project is awesome because it can only be completed through the collaborative & volunteer efforts of a few of the innovative communities of Calgary. This project will produce a robot that can be controlled by artists around the world through the mail-out of a simple, cheap control system. The automaton will have wheels/tracks to get around (whether it be down-town or at an art gallery) and a robotic arm that will interface with the mail-out control system over an internet connection. The movement of the remote artist's hands will be mimicked by the mechanical artist here in Calgary, bringing innovative art to our city in an innovative way. Finally, while having swappable art mediums (chalk, brush, spray), we will outfit the robot with 2 cameras to stream both the artwork and the audience response back to the contributing artist in real time. In addition to the volunteer efforts of independent artists and roboticists, the following organizations have made a commitment to support this project: - EZ-Robot - The Western Canadian Robotics Society - Protospace - Endeavor Arts & Events Space We have many of the expensive parts already being donated (computer, EZ-B, chassis), and all of the development, prototyping & building will be done by volunteers. The $1000 will be used to buy items we do not yet have, which consist of: - Sensors for the remote control mechanism (likely a wearable sleeve) - Materials to laser-cut for the chassis & robotic arm - IP Cameras - Servos - Battery packs To keep Calgarians up to date, we will blog, photograph & film the project as it progresses.

London (Inactive) – Year Here

2012-03-21T00:00:00Z

Year Here is a new type of gap year opportunity for ambitious and entrepreneurial young people. We challenge school leavers to a year of tackling social issues in their own backyard. We aim to stimulate and nurture a new generation of young people who are not only fired up about social issues but also have the skills, insight and network to turn their passions into real social change. Our idea is an ambitious one. Rather than spending a year travelling overseas or working in a dead-end job, we want to inspire high-achieving young people to consider social entrepreneurship as a way of achieving their ambitions while changing society for the better. Young people will apply under a specific theme (e.g. ‘the ageing population’ or ‘social mobility’) and the most creative and entrepreneurial will be selected to become Year Here fellows. Fellows will undertake entrepreneurial work placements with charities and social enterprise; take part in training sessions to build up a range of relevant skills (from business planning to social impact measurement); and be immersed in residential ‘discovery weekends’ focussed on understanding specific social issues. Fellows will live together in shared accommodation and be paid a small stipend throughout the year to cover their expenses. Year Here has already gained public attention, winning the Ideas for London competition and being featured in the Evening Standard twice and on BBC London News. We plan to launch with 12 young people in January 2013 and scale rapidly thereafter. In 2001, I took a gap year teaching at a school in South Africa. Like many other idealistic British 18-year-olds, I wanted to be part of the fight against poverty. Having grown disillusioned with international development and now working on social issues in Britain, I wonder why, in the pursuit of a purpose for my life, I was drawn so far away from home. At the Young Foundation (my employer since 2008), I worked on the social venture funding programme Learning Launchpad, served as a trustee of the youth innovation consultancy, Space Unlimited, and co-wrote Growing Social Ventures (featured on the front page of the Financial Times). I was also part of the start-up team for The U, an initiative that creates volunteer-led training sessions on the high street in areas like first aid and conflict resolution, and managed the Faking It pilot, a programme that challenged young unemployed people to fake it as chefs in 2 weeks.

Chicago, IL – Free art hunts

2012-03-17T00:00:00Z

Hi my name is Patrick Skoff. I started some in Chicago that I call the free art hunts. What I do is create works of art and hide them all over. Then I give clues through twitter and facebook where to find the art. It has plenty of room for growth and the grant would really help. Thank you for your time. For more info on what I am doing you can find it if you google Patrick Skoff.

Kingston – Synchro-Cycle

2012-03-15T00:00:00Z

Synchronized swimming meets bike riding. That’s how Synchro-Cycle describes their mix of choreographed dance moves and bicycle riding. This Kingston-born sport was developed during the summer of 2011, is open to anyone who wants to join, and encourages bicycle riding in a fun and new sport. They look to growing the sport locally and outside of Kingston in 2012 and beyond with an Awesome Kingston Grant. In the summer of 2011 a few local Kingstonians rode to the beach with a transistor radio on their handlebars. Then sparked the brilliant idea of bike dancing while SYNCHRONIZED. Throughout the summer, the newly formed team started creating different moves and formations to demonstrate while riding their bikes. The choreographed moves have been put to much of the classic hits on radio, and the popular tempos these classic hits use. Later, when the team decided to research other cyclists who groove while riding none were found. This seemed preposterous because so many other Kingstonians while told the idea really wanted to participate or come watch our first "show". But being the first season and creation year of synchronized cycling only those randomly on our routes got to enjoy the spectacle. Syncro-Cycle would like to build on this idea with our community and for this coming season have a strong team or even two so we could compete! Our season will stretch from May-September, everyone is welcome, everyone is encouraged. We hope to grow Syncro-Cycle into a real sport, because they all have to start somewhere!

Seattle, WA – Hackademia

2012-03-13T00:00:00Z

For the past couple years I’ve been running a project at the UW a little bit under the radar. It’s not Official Research, or even Actual Teaching. It’s more of an exercise in inspiration. I’m giving undergrad and graduate students–regardless of their major–an opportunity to be innovative and build amazing stuff. I don’t care about their backgrounds, official expertise, or whether they’re a STEM major. Instead, I’m creating the conditions for people to get hands-on experience with technical tinkering, see themselves as builders of things and not just consumers of things–to see themselves as a technical person regardless of their career. I started doing this because I was convinced non-experts can have game-changing insights into difficult problems–precisely because they aren’t familiar with the constraints of the problem space. I’ve watched students make amazing contributions to global health, and I’ve been inspired and humbled by their fearlessness and imagination. So I started Hackademia to create a cohort of functional engineers (not accredited ones!) that have the vocabulary, understanding of basic concepts, and self-confidence to participate fully in creating innovative technologies. I’ve been a professor for many years. I’ve done a lot of official academic work (see bethkolko.com). I’ve also spent 10 years researching technology adoption in Central Asia, I helped start the field of Info and Comm Tech for International Development, I’ve led a team that built a usable, low-cost ultrasound system designed for midwives in Uganda, I’ve gone to Kenya and Kyrgyzstan to study SMS and post-election violence, and I’ve taken a PhD in English and turned it into a full professorship in Engineering. But Hackademia is definitely the most awesome thing I’ve tried to do, because when (not if!) we’re successful, and we’ve spread like a virus through the land, we’ll have convinced people that traditional conceptions of expertise aren’t what’s going to change the world. We’ll have created a scalable model for creating functional engineers who can bring fresh perspectives to solving problems and help make the world a better place. After 2 years & the help of amazing students, we now understand what it takes to scaffold people who come through the door, how to create early successes and spur people on to new ways of thinking and tinkering. It’s time to be vocal, recruit more vigorously, and build awesome things that will spread the word, But we need some help to do that.

Sydney – Chalk & Talk

2012-03-13T00:00:00Z

THE PROJECT: Me and my partner in crime(s of awesomeness) are incubating plans to hatch some interactive art onto the streets of Sydney. The application for this grant is part of a birthday present for the said partner :) Put pithily, our project will involve fixing a “sentence starter” (made from cheap purchased lettering) onto a wall frequented by pedestrians, followed by a blackboard and chalk for people to finish the sentence off in whichever way they choose. Users may even choose to respond in pictures rather than in words. Being dreamers, we envisage this project to eventuate in plural, but for now we are doing our best to play realists and would love a little kick start from your foundation to take our first instance of it out of our multidimensional daydreams and into everyday 3D life. Our first installation will make appropriate use of the “A” word, with the sentence starter being “You are awesome because…” Our sentence starters will in essence be based on “positive affirmations” . For example, “Smile because…” or “Today I will…” etc. But our street art will avoid the cheesefactor experienced in the viewing of motivational posters and the like by being cloaked in a kind of coolness deemed suitable to the tastes of the hipsters of our times. IT'S AWESOME BECAUSE: Even those that don’t put chalk to blackboard are more than likely to finish the sentence in their heads. In this way, the project has the potential to inspire positive thoughts in all passers by. But who doesn’t appreciate their walk towards the daily grind being made that little bit more interesting? The use of a blackboard links to ideas of old school teaching (see “chalk and talk” http://www.thefreedictionary.com/chalk+and+talk). We see anyone and everyone as a potential teacher who has important messages to share with others. Its temporary nature ~ we feel the element of transience, spontaneity, being “in the moment” and non-attachment adds appeal. But users could always photograph their masterpieces if they wish to hold onto them into the nether. Living in the iNfOrMaTiOnOvErLoAd age means we have so many choices of ways to communicate instantly with so many people... quantity vs quality, yadayadayada... but so much weighty stuff is still often left unsaid! Encouraging people to share their ideas, their creativity, and their kindness with each other is important, dontcha think?

Austin, TX – The Pay Phone Revival Project

2012-03-12T00:00:00Z

The Austin Chapter of the Awesome Foundation awarded its first grant to Bridget Quinn, an Austin-based “artist, organizer and explorer of the everyday landscape” to fund her labor of love, The Pay Phone Revival Project. With the mission of creating meaningful interactions between pedestrians and their everyday surroundings, Quinn commissioned teams of emerging artists to convert abandoned pay phone booths into temporary public art installations throughout Central and East Austin. An opening bike tour in April 2012 took urban explorers on a meandering trip to see all nine installations. Quinn explained her inspiration for the project in an interview with Austinist.com: "I have always loved pay phones. I began photographing them about 4 years ago for a school project. I was particularly interested in the way the photographs captured the sometimes awkward placement of payphones relative to their surroundings. Some of these photographs highlighted some pretty poignant and humorous expressions of our need to be connected to each other. As time progressed I began noticing more and more pay phone booths without phones in them. Many pay phone companies would de-install the phone and just leave the booth. For some reason these empty pay phone booths seemed invisible to everyone else... business owners wouldn't even be aware that there was an empty pay phone booth outside of their business. I tend to anthropomorphize objects, so I started to see them as sad little ghosts of an increasingly phased out technology. They looked like little empty frames, the phone booths needed a new function, a new reason to exist! Ideas flooded into me, so that's when I realized I needed to bring other artists and designers into the process of reclaiming and re-purposing these forgotten objects."

Kitchener-Waterloo – It's My EcoPlace (Local Produce Blog + Directory)

2012-03-11T00:00:00Z

It's My EcoPlace is a planned website for the Kitchener-Waterloo region. Small-scale farmers don't necessarily have the time or resources to advertise or create a website. But consumers ARE looking for locally grown and organic produce. www.itsmyecoplace.ca connects these two groups by creating an online directory of local farms and growers. What makes this site unique, though, is that each directory listing is given a blog on the site, which allows the farmer to "have a website" without actually having one. They can update consumers as to which crops are ready, food prices, or photos. I think I am the right person to do this because I LOVE small-scale farms and CSA operations. I have been researching and working on the site for 8 months, even learning CSS and HTML! I have completed a business plan, which I submitted to the UWaterloo Nicol competition. This helped me identify potential clients in the area. Now I need to contact them. I will be making sure to contact the farmers face-to-face, since the local community is what the site is about. Overall, I am hoping for this site to help consumers find local produce, and to support local farmers.

Pittsburgh, PA – Dickson Elementary Outdoor Art Garden

2012-03-11T00:00:00Z

I am an art student teacher at the Woodland Hills School District. I am working with students from very low income households, very little resources and I want to make art an escape for them. I want to create an outdoor learning center for Dickson Elementary School where students can go outside and truly create in the atmosphere of down town Pittsburgh. We have already started clearing the small patch of land we have chosen for this garden but with no funds, this learning center will never be finished. These students need a safe and creative environment to express, explore and play. As an art teacher born and raised in Pittsburgh, I have never been so passionate to make the city a learning environment. The students at this elementary school are smart, imaginative and driven, they just need an area to learn that keeps them in the schools and off the streets.

Ann Arbor, MI – Bona Sera Above Ground

2012-03-04T00:00:00Z

We are Ann Arbor's underground supper club. We have been hosting underground dinners for the past 3 years. All dinners are charity fundraisers for various non-profits in and around Ann Arbor. We have raised over 10 thousand dollars within these 3 years. Diners make a donation for their ticket to dinner and all proceeds raised after the cost of the food go to the charity. We love doing the fundraisers but have been working full time jobs as well. Our goal is to become "above ground" and a legal food service business. This will enable us to continue to do charity fundraisers quarterly. An A2 Awesome grant will assist us with food licensing cost to get this project going. We have a commercial kitchen that we are renting and will be participating at the Mix Marketplace (Ypsilanti) once licensing occurs. Here are some of the organizations we have funded in the past: Growing Hope, Jazzistry, Alternative for Girls, Neutral Zone, Ozone House, HARC, The Ann Arbor Skatepark, LAAN, AIDS Partnership Michigan

Boulder, CO (Inactive) – The world is a gallery.

2012-03-01T00:00:00Z

I'm a photographer living and working in Denver. I shoot mostly cityscapes, still life, and commercial. I LOVE sharing my work with people - in fact I'd love to share it with everyone possible. I firmly believe that people should be surrounded by art consistently. Life is art, after all. That's where this idea comes in. I'd like to print and frame 40 pieces of my work, and install them in random places around the city of Denver - and by random I mean RANDOM. Alleys, Buildings, Public Spaces, Establishments, Overpasses, Parks - anywhere that people exist. I would print and frame all of the works myself, and while for some spaces I would ask permission of the owners to hang the work, and some installations would be guerilla in style. Think of the effect it would have on you to be presented with a contrasting or complementary scene while waiting at a busstop, or while on your bike commuting to work - It could serve as a small respite from and otherwise chaotic day.

Halifax, NS (Inactive) – Re-Plant Halifax

2012-03-01T00:00:00Z

“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.” This greek proverb has been a common phrase and practice in my family - from my great-grandfather, to grandfather, father, mother, sister and now hopefully me! As a child my father always forced my Girl Guide group into community tree planting which I hated at the time, but as an adult I quite enjoy seeing the fruits of my labour line the streets of Wolfville! I grew up outside of Avonport on a hobby farm where my father grows trees in his arbourarium which is made up of hundreds of species and thousands of trees. Each spring he would partner with a non-profit group in a local community (Wolfville, Yarmouth, Windsor, Mahone Bay, London Ontario, to name a few). We would talk to the municipal government & community groups to get approval to plant trees on public land. I would like to host an "Awesome Halifax Re-plant"! We would recruit planters through social media and personal contacts. We would set a date in May that the trees will be delivered to pre-determined public spaces where supplies and instruction will be provided. We want to ensure that the trees planted live long healthy lives at hopefully at some point planters might be able to sit in their shade! For people to feel a sense of pride in the environment in their community they have to have a connection to it. My generation often wants to be involved in environmental change but rarely mobilizes themselves to do anything about it. By planting trees the volunteers will forever remember the one that they planted, watch it grow, take pride in their community and hopefully motivate them to make more positive changes! For example, my sister organized her graduating class at UWO to plant 500 trees on campus. Many of them planted their trees in locations that were special to them or with people who were special to them. My sister planted hers in front of the on-campus hospital where my uncle went through intensive surgery and became a paraplegic after a farm accident. She planted it with all of the family present and many of us go back to visit it and check in on its progress since!

Boston, MA (Inactive) – Holly Hill Farm Kitchen-mobile Classroom

2012-02-29T00:00:00Z

Childhood obesity is a huge problem in this country. We all know why this is so: if you ask elementary school kids to name their favorite snack, they'll most likely tell you it's something that comes in a plastic bag, low in nutritional value, loaded with chemicals, high fructose corn syrup and fat. If you ask where their favorite vegetable comes from, chances are they'll say, "from the grocery store." But something magical and truly awesome happens when take you kids to a vegetable garden behind their school. Suddenly they become less interested in those unhealthy packaged snacks and they are excited to see that the seeds they planted a few weeks ago have turned into something edible and delicious. I've seen this happen because I'm lucky enough to work for an organization that educates kids in school gardens, teaching them all about the importance of healthy rich soil, encourages them to eat their apples at lunch and compost the core, and to understand the life cycle of plants and the miracle that seeds produce things we can eat. I work for the Friends of Holly Hill Farm (FHHF), a non-profit education center based at Holly Hill Farm in Cohasset, MA that was established in 2002. Holly Hill Farm is a working certified organic vegetable farm. FHHF offers farm-based education programs where kids come to the farm for field trips, vacation and summer programs. We do programs for families and adults too - everything from compost "how to" to garlic planting workshops. We love to cook with kids at the farm and in the 18 school gardens we have helped to establish in 6 towns on the South Shore. These gardens are working outdoor classrooms. We've found that kids really love to eat vegetables they have helped to grow in the garden. We would like to expand our list of we can prepare with kids by doing some serious cooking! Salad parties are fun, but we really want to do more - sautéed chard and onions, carrot soup, garlic bread, kale chips. Why don't we use the school kitchen, you wonder? Well, sorry, rules are rules and kids are not allowed in the school kitchen (silly, huh?) So here's what we want to do, we want to build a mobile kitchen on the back of a trailer, hook it to a car and drive it to an area near the school garden and cook on site using produce harvested from the garden. We're hoping to change the way kids view food so they will see how delicious fresh vegetables can be and choose more healthy things to feed themselves and their families!

Ottawa – University of Ottawa Quidditch Team

2012-02-29T00:00:00Z

The grant this month goes to Clare Hutchinson and the University of Ottawa Quidditch team! Clare helped start the team at uOttawa, which is based on the sport written by J.K. Rowling in the Harry Potter book series, a sport played by over 300 teams globally. The sport uses and adapts rules from the book to a Muggle (non-magical) context. Bringing people together from all backgrounds at uOttawa, from the athletic to the non-athletic and the engineering students to the arts students, playing Quidditch helps the students stay healthy and active all year long. The game was started by some students at Middlebury College in Vermont in 2005 as an alternative to their regular games of bocce. Alexander Manshel was the first Quidditch Commissioner and he was the one to adapt the rules from the stories to a real life game. Alex Benepe took over that role and really took the game from just being intramurals played at Middlebury to the international sport it is today (he is still the Commissioner of the International Quidditch Association). By 2008, teams travelled from across the United States to compete in the Quidditch World Cup, including a single Canadian team, McGill University. Last year 96 teams competed on Randall’s Island in New York City. The version of Quidditch played at uOttawa is extremely close to the version Harry Potter plays. Three Chasers on each side attempt to score on the opposing team’s hoops (of which there are 3) with the Quaffle (a slightly deflated volleyball). The hoops are guarded by a Keeper, who generally plays offensively as well. This part of the game is quite similar to rugby. The Beater position reflects the challenges a player would face on a broomstick. There are 2 Beaters on each side, and 3 Bludgers (dodgeballs); when a player gets hit by a Bludger, they must drop whatever they are holding and run back to their side of the field and touch the hoops before they remount their broom and rejoin the game; this is a time penalty that simulates falling off a broom. A goal is worth 10 points, and a Snitch Snatch is worth 30. The game is full contact and co-ed (current gender rules stipulate that there must be 2 players of the opposite gender on the pitch at all times; soon, it will change to a ratio of 3:4). There are rules against back-tackling and illegal tackles, but the game can still get rough, and injuries (known as “quinjuries”) are common, as no protective gear is worn during play. Because there are 4 balls and 4 positions with different rules for each, there is a lot going on, and goal referees and bludger referees are often used. In Clare’s words: “My favourite adaptation is by far the Snitch. In Muggle Quidditch, the Snitch is a person. And just like the Snitch in the game, they are playful, unpredictable, and extremely difficult to catch: Snitches have a ballsock on the back of their shorts that must be caught by either team’s Seeker to end the game. Snitches are released at the beginning of the game and have full run of the area, although they must return to the pitch at a certain time. Amid all the running and wrestling (Snitches cannot be tackled, although they can tackle other players), Snitches like to entertain the crowd with acrobatics, climbing trees, throwing snowballs or water balloons, bullfighting, and general tomfoolery. All players except the Snitch (who has no broom) must be on their brooms at all times.” There are about 600 registered Quidditch teams worldwide; uOttawa’s team plays year-round, although some teams have on- and off-seasons. While the World Cup is generally the only time that most Quidditch teams come together, there are numerous regional tournaments held throughout the year all over the world. uOttawa Quidditch is quite new in the scheme of things, at just over a year old, but they’ve already become well-known for their team spirit, gorgeous uniforms, and obnoxious cheering (accompanied by a signature snare drum and war dance). Clare and team hope to use the funds to help students who are financially disadvantaged to accompany them to away tournaments and to host more tournaments in Ottawa to spread Canadian Quidditch culture.

Boston, MA (Inactive) – LIFT Bike Project

2012-02-29T00:00:00Z

Hi! My name is Ben Sommer, and I'm the Director for the LIFT Bike Project, a non-profit organization founded by a Harvard undergrad in 2009 with the mission of addressing transportation issues among homeless and low-income residents in the Boston Area by donating refurbished bicycles to those in need. This year we are hoping to giveaway 100 bikes at the Green Streets Initiative's Walk/Ride Day on April 27! But we have a lot to do to get ready. Every Wednesday we hold "refurb nights" at Quad Bikes in Cambridge where volunteers can get a little greasy by helping to fix up donated bikes. We usually have a wide range of volunteers show up to help, from first time bike noobs, to professional mechanics, to local Cambridge characters. We drink a little beer, listen to a little music, and wield a little wrench. Most of our bikes come from the Cambridge DPW, which stores bikes that have been abandoned on the street. 50 of our bikes are donated by Roll It Forward, a similar program started by the City of Boston. Individuals also dredge up bikes from their basement as well to give them new life in the service of someone who needs it. I myself am a Cambridge native who moved back to the area after graduating from college in Minnesota. I have gained experience working with a tight budget since helping to found and manage the Dorchester Winter Farmers' Market, an awesome place to go for affordable healthy food this winter in Boston. I also am a community organizer for the Dorchester Community Food Coop, a start up organization that hopes to build a community-owned grocery store in the heart of Dorchester. An Awesome Foundation grant would go a long way in the LIFT Bike Project. We are a lighthearted and sometimes goofy, community-oriented organization that does a lot of good for a lot of people. Thank you for your consideration! Stay Awesome! Ben Sommer

Halifax, NS (Inactive) – SPACE BAGPIPERS

2012-02-29T00:00:00Z

I am a NSCAD student and a member of Dudes and Ladies Arts Society, a band of like-minded artists and enthusiasts committed to using our creativity, ingenuity, and love of a good time to bring great collaborative public art to Halifax and the world. SPACE BAGPIPERS is a public event/ intervention that would unfold like this: It is a weekend afternoon. Inexplicably, twenty or so bagpipers, dressed in fabulous silver spacesuits of variable specifics, appear in downtown Halifax. They walk down Barrington Street, one stopping on each corner, until they are distributed throughout the downtown core. Then they play their bagpipes, and glorious, droning, Highland cacophony fills the city for 15-20 minutes. When they are finished, they leave, reuniting with each other as they walk back from whence they came and forming a climactic, raucous, SPACE BAGPIPER parade, never to be seen again. The bagpipers would be volunteers from the legions of bagpipers employed in Halifax during the tourist season, offered lunch and the chance to participate in an event that appreciates their substantial skill and brings it to the local population in a fun, unexpected way during the off-season. The costumes will be made by me and the other talented members of Dudes and Ladies Arts Society, adapted to the functional specifics necessary for bag piping. NSCAD University’s Granville campus could serve as our home base/mothership. SPACE BAGPIPERS would be a marvellous departure from the everyday, a half-hour for revelry in the nonsensical, and an opportunity for spirits to be lifted in the grungy Halifax spring.

Houston (Inactive) – Evenings with Genetics

2012-02-29T00:00:00Z

Many families struggle to understand not only the genetic evaluation process and the medical care issues, but also the social and emotional component of this information. Several years ago I began organizing community outreach by working with our Baylor College of Medicine genetics faculty in offering seminars for the community. These are held at The Children’s Museum of Houston. The goals of our Evenings with Genetics series are to diminish the knowledge gaps, highlight local and national resources, and aid with family-to-family networking. Houston has a wonderful multicultural community and we are trying to reach out to Spanish-speaking families as well. We have offered simultaneous translation to Spanish at many of our seminars with the expertise of medical translators. The translation equipment to offer this service is rented and costly, which limits the number of times we can offer simultaneous translation. We strongly believe that families who understand their child’s genetic condition are better prepared to care and advocate for their child.

Montreal, QC (Inactive) – Les débats de rue

2012-02-23T00:00:00Z

Le projet des débats de rue vise à stimuler l’intérêt des Montréalais pour les enjeux touchant leur ville en démocratisant le débat, en le rendant accessible au plus grand nombre et en sollicitant l’intérêt et la participation de tous. Pour ce faire, nous souhaitons ramener le débat dans la rue, en créant une sorte «d’agora» spontanée. À raison de quatre débats de rue par année (un par saison), nous convierons les citoyens à débattre, dans un lieu public (parc, place publique, landmark), d’un enjeu d’actualité à Montréal. Dans un climat convivial et respectueux, des débatteurs d’opinions diverses seraient invités à intervenir et à stimuler la discussion. Puisque le tout se déroulera dans un lieu public, les passants seront attirés par l’événement et se joindront aux participants, puis au débat, élargissant ainsi l’impact de l’événement. Enrobé d’une symbolique rappelant la démocratie athénienne, les débats de rues seront le flash mob des amoureux de Montréal.

Calgary, AB (Inactive) – Gumsphere 300

2012-02-23T00:00:00Z

Gumsphere 300 is taking some very excellent musical and artistic talent from Calgary, mashing it all up into a crazy-awesome show and taking it on the road across North America in 8 tiny Ford Festivas. The audience is already pumped, the artists are primed, the itinerary is mostly locked in, and there's a lot of very good buzz about this. Everyone (and we mean EVERYONE – from radio to print to beer sponsors to online car forums) is behind this the second they hear about it! Did we mention the cars are customized? Did we mention that there'll be a full-length documentary made? Did we mention the young and talented Calgary bands are making tour contacts and career-enhancing moves all up in this festival? Car enthusiasts love it, music lovers love it, weirdo performing artists love it, and it's for all of them, and for you that Gumsphere 300 is happening. We're making it happen with a lot of their help, a lot of elbow grease and hopefully Awesome Calgary's $1000. Follow this project on Twitter (@Gumsphere300), Facebook (facebook.com/Gumsphere300) and at gumsphere300.com.

Calgary, AB (Inactive) – Timmy's Only Delivery Service

2012-02-23T00:00:00Z

We deliver coffee, donuts, and food from downtown Calgary restaurants to downtown Calgary businesses. - It's awesome because it shows people that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well regardless of our personal situation. - Hire on other homeless people and give them a sense of accomplishment and self worth as well as an opportunity to make a positive impact on their environment (and some income). - Our customers benefit due to the convenience and low cost of our service. - This project is scalable and easily replicated in other cities. The money will be used towards: - Providing marketing materials (fliers, business cards etc...) - Transportation fees (either transit pass or vehicle) - Materials (insulated bags) - Updated phone to enable connection through social media Follow this project on Twitter (@TimmysOnly), Facebook (facebook.com/TimmysOnly) and at timmysonly.com.

San Francisco, CA – Scents of San Francisco

2012-02-21T00:00:00Z

Create oils and perfumes from SF urban wildflowers and exhibit them. **************************** Using the enfleurage technique http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enfleurage I've collected the scent of local flowers. I would like to take my scent project and begin to collect more locally gathered essences. I am looking at this work as fine art meeting functional products that tell a story. Color and Scent Alchemy - Localism. Taking it one step further beyond the enfleurage technique I would like to begin to collect local scents in more complicated ways. This has led me to the study of distillation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distillation I have sourced several good d.i.y. home scale size safe units on the market that would allow me to collect a wider array of types of smells beyond flowers and leading into leaves/barks/coniferous needles/dry or fresh plant materials and even resins/saps... I would like to use this unit along with other methods to collect scents from specific areas combined with other media - installation-video- wall based works and sculpture to tell a story related to this scent. I will post scented material request bulletins online and in print in various locations to get locals to participate in the collection (especially in their own yards and gardens). There will be a blog, an interactive online map and an art book/look book for the project including a sample of the finished scent. Larger bottles will be available utilizing a hand blown hand etched bottle created by a friend and local glass artist. An opening party for the project would incorporate local foods and locally harvested colors via locally sourced and sustainably harvested plant dyes. Eco scent and color magic - visual art and a collectible beautiful special and rare product/art piece.

Chicago, IL – Silent Theater Seeks Voice

2012-02-18T00:00:00Z

It may seem strange that a theater artist obsessed with language decided to create a play that doesn’t use a single word. However, making theater in Chicago, I’ve noticed that language divides audiences more than it connects them. Chicago is a diverse, vibrant city overflowing with cultures and languages, but our theater scene - an art form that is at its best when it brings strangers together to share a common experience - is only available in one. That experience of a common experience is at the core of The Story Story, a new wordless theater piece premiering April 16 at The Plagiarists Salon, followed by performances in May as part of The Fable Festival, throughout Chicago and beyond, for English and non English-speaking audiences. What if, by eliminating the need for a common language, one theater piece could communicate with anyone? What if audiences from different backgrounds and cultures, could laugh, wonder, and gasp with delight next to one another? Well. I think it would be pretty awesome. So I made this play. I got rid of all those pesky words. I focused on other ways of storytelling: images, gestures, sound and music. Drawing inspiration from wordless picture books, The Story Story uses over 300 meticulously storyboarded images by a team of visual artists, each projected and hand-animated during the live performance. Our silent but articulate narrators are two painstakingly designed and sculpted puppets, each brought to life by her own actor/puppeteer. Now, all we need is the voice of the play: music. The Story Story uses one continuous, expressive score to do what music does so beautifully: draw us in for quiet moments, stun us with discovery, and ultimately charm us with its beauty. Our vision is clear: neo-classical, building in complexity: a rich, layered sound that will create movement to counter the still images, allow for moments of stillness, and rocket us through the climax of the play. From the first design meeting through rehearsals and acceptance into festivals and performance venues, The Story Story has been built in true Chicago theater fashion: using all available resources, personal funds, in-kind donations, and through the grace of individual donors. However, this final step, creating and recording the score, is a big one. With your help we can make it.

Kingston – RecordSMASH

2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

In March, I plan to unicycle 100 miles in six and a half hours and break the Guinness World Record for the fastest ever 100 miles ridden on a unicycle. I'll do this by lapping the Kingston Memorial Centre's cinder track 192 times. The goals of the event are to: - raise awareness about making Kingston a Certified Fair-Trade City and sustainability - provide entertainment and enjoyment for the community, including: chocolate fondue, learn-to-unicycle workshops, live music, and farmer's market booths - support the Engineers Without Borders Queen's Chapter's initiatives, including the youth outreach program, fair-trade advocacy, and African programs which empower and improve conditions for African farmers, and support local sustainable farmers. The goals of this project align themselves with Kingston’s goals of becoming the most sustainable city in Canada, since a major component of Fair Trade Certification is sustainability criteria. This event has the potential to move Kingston toward attaining this goal! Fair-trade products will be available for sampling or purchasing, and we will be having a huge fair-trade fondue party in the parking lot. Live bands will be playing throughout the event and people will be encouraged to try out this difficult sport themselves through our learn-to-unicycle workshops put on by the Kingston Unicycling Group. There will also be unicycle jousting at this event... maybe. We believe that Kingston can become a Fair-Trade city. This sets a tone for the city and brings people together for a united cause, and set Kingston's national reputation in a positive light.

Grand Rapids, MI (Inactive) – Kentwoodpalooza!

2012-02-15T00:00:00Z

My name is Greg Lewis, I am the teen librarian at Kent District Library-Kentwood Branch. Last summer, I reached out to local businesses, and along with our "friends of the library" we hosted the first ever “Kentwoodpalooza” which featured local teen rock bands. This was the final event in the Teen SRC (Summer Reading Club). 150 attended the event. This summer, I hope to expand this event by offering a Teen SRC kickoff event in addition to the final event. My hope is to attract many area teens to the library at the beginning of SRC. This way, teens can find out what their library has to offer and how they can become involved. Often, teens are an underserved segment in the population, and just knowing there is a welcoming place can make a huge difference in a young person’s life. The opening event would feature teen bands, free food, and the opportunity to sign up for the SRC. They will also learn about other summer offerings at their library. At the conclusion of summer, the final event will feature a local professional music act, food, and we would have the SRC prize drawings. Our library serves a diverse, multicultural community and this is a great opportunity for teens to interact and meet with new friends.

Pittsburgh, PA – Community Steps Cooperative

2012-02-15T00:00:00Z

The Community Steps Cooperative seeks to preserve and promote the Pittsburgh city steps by organizing community support and resources. To accomplish this, we plan to solicit community feedback and support, act as a liaison between neighborhoods and their local government, host events, and carry out projects that improve and promote the use of the Pittsburgh city steps. Our organization currently consists of 2 volunteer staff, a board of 5 directors, and several partners who lend their talents to our cause. The city’s steps are historic features that contribute accessibility and a distinct character to nearly every neighborhood, with over 700 sets throughout the city. Many of these sets, however, are in need of repair and even more go without regular care and maintenance. In a city already strapped for infrastructure funds, there is a critical need for community involvement to improve and maintain these historic features. With only a little help, a set of steps can kept free of snow and ice during the winter and remain a beautiful environment during the warmer months. Our organization plans to create a network of community members who care about their neighborhood steps, serve as a resource for people who want to help out or make use of the steps, and make use of available funding opportunities to make improvements. To begin, we will plan several meetings to let neighborhood groups know about our goals and give feedback, host a series of volunteer days to improve several targeted steps, and hold a few events to raise money and awareness about our organization. Our group has been planning since October, and with some initial funding, we are ready to take action this Spring. Our staff consists of MJ Flott, a local resident and community activist who has provided crucial leadership from the beginning and Alex Lake, who brings an understanding of non-profit operations, technology, and fundraising to the team. We have partnered with UpTo | Know Good, a consultancy providing initial planning and identity support. While the City will not support us financially, they have otherwise offered to assist us however they can. Our organization has begun the process of incorporation and is seeking nonprofit status. After a period of successful events and actions, we plan to raise money from individuals and foundations, allowing us to add capacity and become a reliable and effective presence throughout the city in supporting the steps and the green-space around them.

Seattle, WA – Re-Animated! An Exquisite Corpse Event

2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

SEAT (Seattle Experimental Animation Team) - we make unusual things and show them in unusual places. Animators don't get out much, the work is painfully slow and when our members collect enough new works, we screen, in theaters, cafes, barns, on walls, kites, warehouses… We need to get out and throw a party. Our last in 2009 was the Funtacular, a mobbed animation event with four projection screens featuring twelve local artists. Our first new event of 2012 is an exquisite corpse animation custom devised by us, and we need to pay the artists. Re-Animated! will be held on art walk at Zeitgeist in Pioneer square, and feature three projections, on screens and windows, and four of our flying cinema kites suspended from the ceiling. In addition to new works, seven animators are shooting an original collective film (the exquisite corpse) to be premiered that night. Bringing animation to non-film locations has been one of our best activities. Outside our globally touring animation program, we've created animation installations at Susan Robb's Long Walk (2011), Arabica Coffee (2011), Zeitgeist (2009) and we're embarked on a commission in Cal Anderson park to animate a wall mural for Sound Transit over the course of four years.

Sydney – Hungry Ghost sound walk

2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

A gothic play set in the alleys of Surry Hills uncovering its dark history. It will take the form of an audio walk. A listener will download an audio track or app of the play. Wearing headphones they hear the story play out on the streets they are walking, referencing landmarks and features they pass. The walk will use binaural sound recording. This is made with two microphones positioned near a person's ears so the recording replicates how you normally experience sound. The technique is more immersive then normal recordings enabling the listener to feel that they are walking in the story rather then just listening to it. A man could whisper in your left ear, a horse might suddenly exhale just behind you, the sound of drinking might seem as if it is coming from your own mouth. The setting of the sound walk will be in contemporary Surry Hills but will go back in time to the early 1900s of plague quarantines, rat catching was a lucrative job and the war was seen as a “restricted holiday” out of the Surry Hills slums. The streets were run by fashionable young gang members. And the Chinese living in the area were a dying community following restrictive immigration policies and problems with gambling and opium dens. The walk will follow two cousins of Chinese descent as they try and find the home of their ancestors. They hope to make an offering to be rid of a hungry ghost troubling their families. Hungry ghosts are spirits that return to take what they can if sufficient offerings haven't been made by their living relatives. They recount old family stories to try and locate the home and as the stories are told the listener goes back to the early 1900s. The focus of the story will be on the early Chinese of the Surry Hills community, a point of view rarely explored. When all episodes are completed they will be delivered via mobile app. TEAM Susanna Dowling (Director) Assoc Director at PlayWriting Australia, previously Associate Artist at Company B Belvoir, 2011 recipient of Mind's Eye commission at Bell Shakespeare. Ekrem Mulayim (Sound) Masters Composition at Sydney Conservatorium. 2011 nominee for best score or sound design at the Sydney Theatre Awards. Theatre credits include 'Yellow Moon', 'Cut' and 'The Kiss' at Belvoir, 'Tell it like it isn’t' for Australian Theatre for Young People and 'Vigil' for Spirit House Theatre Company. Mei Tsering (Writer) PlayWriting Australia Salon 2011, Associate Writer at Belvoir St Theatre (current). App developer

Ann Arbor, MI – Youth Fitness Room

2012-02-05T00:00:00Z

Hello, I'm Quinn Phillips from Ozone House Youth and Family Services. I am requesting an Awesome Grant to create a youth fitness room at our emergency shelter for homeless and at-risk kids. The grant would be used for equipment which would be used by hundreds of young people each year, and would save our organization $900 annually. We deserve this grant, because Ozone House is one of the most awesome non-profits in Michigan! We give homeless and runaway youth: a safe place to stay, counseling, support, and opportunities to have fun and improve themselves, all free of charge. Check us out at: www.ozonehouse.org We're also awesome at recognizing our donors. This would make a great photo op! Why do we need the money? We've been looking for ways to get our clients more active. Besides teaching them the importance of regular exercise, physical activity really helps ease the depression, stress, and frustration that many at-risk youth experience. In the past, we've bought passes to local gyms. Although the kids really enjoy going, they are embarrassed when they see people they know. Since they must be supervised at all times, their friends quickly realize they are there as part of a program. Also, gym memberships for up to six youth are expensive. Having our very own work out room would save us over $900 each year. We've recently had to cut our hours at our Drop-In Center due to funding problems, so anywhere we can save money would be an enormous help. I love taking on big projects to help out at-risk kids in Washtenaw County. As a facilitator of the Queer Zone support group for LGBTQ youth at Ozone House Ypsilanti, I single-handedly created and organized the annual “Kicked Out the Jams!” benefit concert which has raised over $8000 for LGBTQ youth at risk of homelessness in the past two years. You can read more about my awesomeness here: http://markmaynard.com/2011/10/youve-just-crossed-over-into-the-queer-zone/ How will we pull this off? The agency has already approved turning our basement into a work out room, if we find funding for the project. We have plenty of volunteers willing to set everything up, we just need money for equipment. Thank you for your consideration, Quinn Phillips Education Coordinator Ozone House Youth and Family Services qphillips@ozonehouse.org 734 662-2265

Zürich (Inactive) – (Un)bedingte Freiheit - Freiheit Unbedingt

2012-02-01T00:00:00Z

Saluti an das Awesome-Team, ich würde euch gerne mein Herzensprojekt vorstellen, für das ich eure Unterstützung dringend benötige. zu mir: ich bin ein 28jähriges Madel und arbeite seit 1,5 Jahre in der forensischen Wissenschaft in Zürich. Nach stunden- und tagelangem Akten-welzen ist mir durch das lesen der vielen, fesselnden Geschichten der jungen Straftäter eine Idee gekommen, die mich seitdem nicht mehr los lässt. zum Projekt: Dabei geht es um die Frage: Was bedeutet (bedingte) Freiheit und Gefangenschaft für jeden einzelnen der jungen Gefangenen und lässt sich dieses Gefühl in Bilder fassen. Hierfür soll den interessierten, jungen Tätern eine Einwegkamera übergeben werden, mit der Augenblicke, Situationen, Gegenstände eingefangen werden können, die mit dem Gefühl von Freiheit und Gefangenschaft assoziiert werden. Es geht um die Bewertung der Person, die unmittelbar davon betroffen ist oder war und um das Bewusst werden (sowohl des Photographen) als auch uns Außenstehenden was Freiheitsentzug bedeuten kann. Der Blick der jungen Häftlinge soll hierbei völlig wertfrei eingefangen werden und anschließend im Rahmen einer kleinen Broschüre und Ausstellung präsentiert werden. Ich habe bereits Kontakt zu dem Massnahmezentrum Uitikon (www.mzu.zh.ch) aufgenommen und das Projekt bei den Jungs der Austrittsabteilung (die nur noch im MZU schlafen) sowie der Halb-Offenen Abteilung (die nur für die Beurlaubung, den Ausgang und teilweise für die Ausbildung nach "draussen" dürfen) vorgestellt. Insgesamt haben sich 9 der Jungs gemeldet, die gerne freiwillig an dem Kunstprojekt teilnehmen würden. Die Einwegkameras wurden bereits ausgehändigt und werden in den kommenden zwei Wochen eingesammelt und entwickelt. Zudem wurden den Jugendlichen allgemeine Fragen gestellt, wie z.B. "was bedeutet Freiheit für dich?", "hat sich dieses Gefühl seit der Gefangenschaft verändert?" ....Nach der Entwicklung und Vergrösserung der Bilder werden diese mit jedem einzelnen der 9 jungen Täter besprochen und Fragen zu den einzelnen Bildern gestellt...z.B. "warum steht dieses Bild für Freiheit bzw. Gefangenschaft" "was löst es in dir aus "sind dir die Bilder leicht gefallen"...und schliesslich die Bilder für die Ausstellung bzw. Broschüre ausgewählt. Insbesondere für die nun folgende Umsetzung des Photo-Projekts ist eine finanzielle Unterstützung nötig und entscheidet auch über den Rahmen und die Möglichkeiten der Umsetzung. Vielen Dank für euer Interesse an unseren Herzensprojekten

Berlin (Inactive) – Acpad Guitar

2012-02-01T00:00:00Z

I develloped in July 2011 a guitar, i can play techno with. so far i played at several techno clubs with it, as a "live dj" in berlin, only with one guitar. A video shows it without wasting to much words here: My gigs where within half a year at venues like katerholzig, ritterbutzke, volksbühne, betahaus, sisyphos, mikz, ruigoord in amsterstam I am a berlin based artist and live with the money of my gigs since November 2011. in summer i tour with my vw bus and my self built sound equipment troley + guitar project. for booking gigs, creating music, playing gigs, surving, finding place to stay etc, the crazy live style of an artist... There are 3 different project ideas around the guitar idea with different budgets necessary to make it possible, according what you are interessted in most, i can send you more details. the 3 different ideas are written below!

Houston (Inactive) – Hear Our Houston

2012-01-31T00:00:00Z

Hear Our Houston is a hub of public generated audio walking tours that should be amplifying more of our city’s incredibly diverse and fascinating voices. All sorts of folks record their thoughts, stories, memories, and knowledge while taking a walk. They then upload the audio tour to HearOurHouston.com where anyone can download it for free to their mp3 player, retrace the tour maker’s steps, layer meaning into geography and try on another point of view. These tours are not a list of easily consumable hotspots made by flat, expected characters. From point A to point B, you walk, you discover meaning in details you never noticed and the in-between spaces you wouldn’t have sought to arrive at. Houston is a city of great but hidden richness only truly discovered by experience and word of mouth. In a place where walking is nearly a radical act, Hear Our Houston is excavating some of our hidden gems, layering meaning into geography, preserving our oral history, and celebrating our common sense of space.

Toronto – Bellwood's Push Mower Society (BPMs)

2012-01-30T00:00:00Z

The core of the idea is this: mow the grass of city parks as a community.The revolutionary part is the use of standard push mowers, rather than anything gas powered or automatic. Consider reducing the high cost of employing city workers to constantly maintain the park, which might enable the city to divert those funds to improving swimming pools, or updating other park facilities to get our children outside more often. This one small change could improve the air quality of our community green spaces, not to mention get us laughing and chatting together. It could happen monthly, or bi-weekly -- citizens could plan after events accordingly. I have a couple contacts within the Toronto Park system, which would help with co-ordination. Once the project was established, we could introduce elements such as push mower derbies: participants could decorate their mowers and introduce their ideas on grass cutting and landscaping. Awards could be offered for best design. Instructions on blade sharpening would be available. The hope is for the use of push mowers over gas powered alternatives to spread to home use, and to other neighbourhood parks. With increased interest, sponsorship would begin to crop up: manufacturers offering mowers on a trial basis. This is an easy, fun and inexpensive way to inspire our future generations that a little physical work is good for the spirit, as well as the environment. My family and I would be proud and thrilled to participate in such an enterprise.

Pittsburgh, PA – The Drift (formerly Art Barge)

2012-01-30T00:00:00Z

In November 2011, a group of seven artists and MFA students from Carnegie Mellon University embarked on the idea of creating an artificial island that will drift about Pittsburgh's rivers while hosting and facilitating creative projects and performances. Our intent is to help activate the city’s rivers as a venue for cultural events and inspire new ways of looking at what we feel is Pittsburgh’s greatest underutilized resource. By building this platform, we will be able to engage those who would not typically attend traditional “white box” arts venues. Furthermore, we intend to create ties within the arts community by opening the platform to proposals from anyone in the city. Design-wise, the island consists of a number of floating hexagonal modules or stages, approximately 12 feet across, which can be linked together to create a shape appropriate for the project at hand. The first of several platforms has already been constructed and the second is underway, but we will need additional financial support to complete the project and support programming. Currently, we are in the process of reaching out to organizations that are dedicated to connecting local residents with Pittsburgh’s rivers, such as Pittsburgh Riverlife. In addition, we are developing plans for community outreach initiatives with the hope of utilizing this platform as a catalyst for public reflection on the future potential of the three rivers. We have a diverse core team including artists, designers and engineers who work at the intersection of art and science, performance and sound, interactive projects and public art. With respect to the project, our team is dedicated to design, engineering, promotion, social networking, and community outreach. Please visit our blog to find out more about our individual and collaborative projects: http://artbarge.tumblr.com/team Proposed ideas for the platform so far include a “paddle-in” movie theater, winter desert island, concert stage, museum for objects dredged from the river bottom, miniature campsite, floating cafe, and more. Calls for submissions for guest projects will be open in late March, and our goal is to produce four projects throughout 2012.

Kitchener-Waterloo – Spark Music Festival

2012-01-30T00:00:00Z

Hello My name is Richard Garvey. I'm a musician and music promoter from Kitchener, ON. www.richardgarvey.ca I am working as Artistic Coordinator with Spark Music Festival in Waterloo, ON. The 2012 festival is set for May 26th. We have received lots of support from the Trillium Foundation and The City of Waterloo to operate this festival. The funding we have received has been allocated for promoting the festival and renting Waterloo Park and creating a stage for the day. What we need is more cash to pay the bands, and to be able to hire the best bands possible. Spark music festival is an eclectic music festival. Showcasing all types of music. We focus on promoting local musicians, connecting community members to local art and to local organizations that do good work in our community. At the festival several local organizations that do environmental and social justice work will be present and have a chance to meet new people who might be interested in supporting their advocacy by volunteering, donating or creating awareness. This is the second year for spark. With the first festival being 2010. It was a learning experience. We had amazing national talent like rock band Zeus. We took a year off to re-vision and apply for grants.

Calgary, AB (Inactive) – Projection Bombing

2012-01-26T00:00:00Z

- I am a theatre artist, animator, and tinkerer who wants to explore new ways to interact with our urban environment. - Let's create an independently powered mobile video projection unit, mounted onto a modified bicycle trailer for maximum portability. - Combinine video technologies with open-source software to allow citizens to "paint" the city's blank walls with video, or "tag" a building with a laser, or create video walls which interact with passersby. - Bicycle-powered: highly mobile, compact, and flexible enough to be set up at various downtown spots, festivals, train yards, parks, etc. for all Calgarians to enjoy. I possess most of the video equipment needed in my shop, but the money would go towards building a portable rig, specifically: - A dedicated bicycle and trailer to modify - A power generator / battery system - A powerful laser pointer or two (to use as a brush to "laser tag") - Infrared diodes and sensors for "paintbrushes" - possibly a brighter projector for maximum effect on large urban surfaces

Boston, MA (Inactive) – Project Afghanistan - Magicians Without Borders

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

I have a growing children's magic class in Kabul, Afghanistan, but we need $1000 for magic supplies to make use of local materials. This project began when I was in Boston at Harvard Divinity School. I decided to raise money by running the Boston marathon -- while juggling (or "joggling" as it's called). The Boston-Afghanistan connection remains through a friend network I've worked hard to build at Harvard and MIT. I've been working in Afghanistan as a juggling teacher and aid worker since 2005. In 2009, I started a magic class for street kids and orphans, housed at the Afghan Educational Children's Circus (www.AfghanMMCC.org). The children use magic as part of their educational stage performances that reach over 300,000 children every year. Magic is a great tool for building their self-esteem, equipping them with means to earn income in the future, and improving the capacity of their educational messages to reach the masses (e.g. how to avoid malaria, how to wash hands when you don't have soap, how to resolve conflict with peers, etc.). I'm really excited for this summer. Tom Verner, founder of Magicians Without Borders, will be joining me this summer (June, 2012). Our vision is to develop some bigger stage tricks that could be used on national television in this war-torn country. In a place where everything seems impossible, magic is a great way to inspire hope that the impossible is possible. But we're missing one thing: magic equipment. Magic props for stage performances require funds for construction. Purchased in the US they are very expensive. They are cheaper to make in India. No one in the US is willing to donate such equipment, so these need to be custom ordered. $1000 would go a long way for the stage props we have in mind, some of which would need to be welded, others chemically treated. We estimate about 4 months are needed to prepare the props.

Grand Rapids, MI (Inactive) – R4AC Cycling Project

2012-01-23T00:00:00Z

Cancer affects so many people and has completely changed my life. Last October, after a hard fought 3 year battle, we lost my Mom to Colon Cancer. While watching/supporting my mother through this battle I saw how much support, strength, optimism, and luck one needs while battling this dieses. This experience has shaped me into who I am today. Through time, I have to continue to move forward with my life not dwelling in the past as it cannot be changed. As an avenue to cope with the loss, I continue to look to exercise and sports. I was always encouraged to try new things while growing up in Northern Michigan. This led me to alpine skiing, Mountain Biking, Cycling and my new awesome idea! My idea is to take my passion for cycling and use it as an avenue to raise money for cancer patients in West Michigan. Exercise is a very important part of a cancer patient’s path to recovery both during and after Chemo treatments. Lacks Cancer Center has an exercise program called Cancer Well-fit, which encourages patients to take an active role in their recovery. The program however does have an out-of-pocket expense for patients to join. This is where R4AC (Race for a Cure) Cycling Project comes in. The Cycling team will be active in fundraising by selecting three main endurance events(to be determined). We will be looking to raise at least $100 for each event that will be used to help support cancer patients in Grand Rapids. Another fundraising event the team will do is the “Race for a Reason” campaign. With this campaign we are looking for $50 donations from individuals to have loved ones initials placed on our jerseys for the year. We are already having a lot of interest with this idea. 100% of the money raised by this campaign will go to paying for Cancer Well-fit memberships for patients at Lacks Cancer Center. The Team will also plan other various fundraising activities through-out the year to provide additional funds for this cause. We are comprised of four members with a variety cycling abilities from Cat 3 and 4 for road, expert/sport for Mountain Biking. Along with fundraising our plan is to also promote cycling in West Michigan which has continued to grow over the past 10 years. Grand Rapids and the surrounding area offers close to 30 events, a majority of which R4AC plans to attend. Thank you for your time and together we can support individuals with cancer as well as grow cycling in West Michigan.

Connecticut – Lullaby CD for Neo-Natal ICU

2012-01-19T00:00:00Z

The Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra is a professional orchestra now celebrating its 47th year. We present subscription concerts throughout the year to a loyal audience. Last year we had the idea to collaborate with the Danbury Hospital, who recently opened a new neo-natal intensive care unit. Members of the orchestra will gather at Enchanted Garden, a facility in Ridgefield, to record a CD of lullabies from around the world. Monica Yunus, a Metropolitan Opera singer, has volunteered to record one of the songs, along with Mara Bonde, a broadway soloist who has performed with the RSO in the past. Other singers include Daniela Sikora, director of the Ridgefield Chorale, a singing group of 85 members, and Carrie Chanin, a professional singer who lives in Ridgefield and has performed with the RSO. All singers are volunteering their time. The CDs will be presented to Danbury Hospital at an event in the spring, and one will be given to every baby who is cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit. The project is being funded through donations and volunteer efforts.

Kingston – Farmer to Farmer Forum

2012-01-19T00:00:00Z

The CRAFT Kingston organic farmers' network is made up of roughly 12 farms and focuses on knowledge transfer and social networking as ways to build the capacity of member farms to run successful farm businesses and supply the Kingston region with fresh organic food. We have recently decided that a "Farmer to Farmer Forum", an online interactive communication tool, needs to be developed in order to improve our ability to share knowledge, resources, and other information about opportunities to collaborate. This would enable an entirely new way of communicating, one that could archive the exchanges for future reference by many Kingston area farmers and decentralize the coordination responsibility maintaining a limited dependence on outside funding. We have been operating as CRAFT Kingston for three years now and have been developing our ability to train new farmers and share knowledge through workshops and farm yours to support one another. We have discussed the importance of effective and simple communication to our network and the Farmer to Farmer Forum could not only amplify the effectiveness of CRAFT Kingston but also help educate and network with the community!

Ottawa – Apartment613 Lecture Series

2012-01-15T00:00:00Z

The winner of the January Awesome Ottawa grant is Ryan Saxby Hill and the Apt613 team! Apartment613 hosts a popular blog and weekly radio show focused on great events and happenings in Ottawa. Boasting over 20,000 readers a month, the team has been exploring different ways of spurring on the growth of Ottawa as an awesome place to live. The team has started Apartment613 Community Initiatives and will host a series of lectures and discussions that will explore themes on how to make Ottawa a better place. Topics range from creating a public library that would be the envy of the country to engaging Ottawa’s youth through city-funded skate parks. They hope to host these lectures seasonally starting in February 2012 and will disseminate each session through www.apt613.ca and on CHUO FM. The grant from Awesome Ottawa will allow the team to rent the necessary equipment and space costs for at least four lectures, allowing them to host a full year of events. We are excited to have this initiative in Ottawa and eagerly look forward to being a part of it!

Seattle, WA – Safe Sex Kits for Homeless Teens

2012-01-10T00:00:00Z

I work at a Crisis Residential Center for teens in Seattle and King County. We get a monthly average of 40 different teens staying with us due to some sort of crisis in their housing. We take care of their basic needs and try to provide them with tools and resources for improving their situation. One of the things we notice is that teens in this situation are more likely to engage in sex without having the knowledge or the resources to do so safely. We address the knowledge by having the folks from www.scarleteen.com come and talk to them in a non judgmental, inclusive and positive way about STI, Pregnancy & healthy relationships. However access to everything one would need for having safe sex is limited, also what is limiting is a way for them to keep this stuff together during unstable housing situations. One of comments from a teen in class was how cool it would be to create a "Safe Sex Kit", something that would hold all the little things needed and would roll up and be discreet. We looked around, didn't find anything that was specific for this purpose and came up with a prototype that would safely hold a variety of materials (condoms, dental dams, lube, birth control, gloves, cleansing clothes, etc) and could easily been sewn together by teens and volunteers. We would pull this together by giving volunteers the materials and the pattern to sew them, collect the completed kits and then stock them with the various items needed. We would offer these to the teens that come to our shelter when they do the classes or if they identify that they would use this kit. The educators from Scarleteen.com could also distribute them in their outreach. Our goal would be to create and distribute 50 fully stocked kits by the end of 2012. This is doable because we have the knowledge, a prototype and access to other organizations who would be willing to provide materials, volunteers as well as items needed to stock the kits. We will also like to be able to provide at cost a copy of the book "S.E.X.: The All-You-Need-To-Know Progressive Sexuality Guide to Get You Through High School and College".